want your opinion

weezieRN · Dec 9, 2003

to pieWacket---- I didn't mean it as it was written or how you stated it, I meant I would like to be apart of the improvements of the department and of course i do have some ideas considering they still have the seperate labor rooms and a seperate delivery rooms, etc, i would like to be apart of trying to recruit midwives and ob doc that are women, obtaining funding for the department since we are a part of a big division of hospitals. If you read any of the local papers in our area you can see that residents of the town our hospital is in will go to a hospital 40-50 miles away to have their children, probably due to up to date(L&D rooms) accomadations women healthcare providers etc, etc. To me a manager is for that sort of thing but also staff imput should be considered since they are the ones who have to actually iniate and deal with things on the floor daily etc.

pieWACKet · Dec 9, 2003

Weezie wrote

"i do have some ideas considering they still have the seperate labor rooms and a seperate delivery rooms, etc, i would like to be apart of trying to recruit midwives and ob doc that are women, obtaining funding for the department since we are a part of a big division of hospitals."

Well, you're obviously educated on your hospital's department and have excellent points.Perhaps you could mention you would REALLY like to serve on a committee that would attend to the concerns of the staff and the department in assuring that the venue can flourish in the regional market.

GOOD LUCK!

webbiedebbie · Dec 9, 2003

Re: response of "Don't include ideas of improving department and manager feels you feel she is mismanaging her department".

Why do managers feel threatened by a statement that we have some ideas. Why not listen to these ideas and work on them together? Maybe some cannot be accomplished, but the manager should be able to explain in a nonthreatening manner why they cannot be done at this time.

When I have ideas, I am not thinking that they are not doing anything right. I would just like to hear her side to find out why things are the way they are. If I get a negative response in a nonthreatening manner, I will study the situation further and work on my way of thinking to assist the manager with any changes that we can agree on.

I actually came up with an idea that the manager implemented. She was very open to any ideas that we had. If there was something that could not be changed, she was extremely honest and open and explained the reasons, thus allowing us to understand the situation better.

pieWACKet · Dec 9, 2003

webbiedebbie, you are referring to what i wrote when you say "Why should management be threatened when we suggest change".

Management DOES need to hear our suggestion, and we all need to make them. I do , all the time. And bravo for you in being succesful in implementing change in your department.

But, I was speaking to a new nurse with 6 months experience, facing a job interview in which she might, it seemed, tell the prospective manager about her plans for change in the department. Just based on the info provided, and imagining it, If YOU were the prospective employer, would this be what you would want to hear on the employment interview? It's one thing to say, "i am very interested in the vitality of this unit, and would love to serve on a committee in addition to working at the bedside" or "i have read about our hospital in the press and am concerned that your unit, in which I so much want to work, seems to lose its clientelle to its competitor and I'd like to be part of the changse needed to reverse that fact" [which appears in follow up post to be what this new nurse intended and CERTAINLY is a big plus for her to mention, as it shows she has really done her research]. It's another to say "Hi, I'd like to work for you, and these are the changes your department needs" which is the fear I expressed for her, as it would, in that scenario, NOT serve her well.It had to do with delivery and content.

The full context of my statement was that in any study of effective change, timing is a key factor. A newcomer's ideas for change are not readily absorbed, and their purpose often misread and gauged with hostility {"Well, if it was so much better in that OTHER unit, why didn't she just STAY there" "Well it might have worked there, but it won't here because...SHE'll see." are simplistic examples]. Even with the best ideas, To get the changes one wants, the group has to feel that you are part of them, not an outsider pointing out bad things from the getgo and suggesting ineptitude on the parts of others who are just accomodating to that person's new presence and their dynamic in the group. MUCH of it has to do with delivery, but timing is key.

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2003

Wow, thanks Barb and CCU.

Before coming to health care earlier this year, I was a manager in business for over a quarter century, and handled many negotiations. IMO, in these kinds of situations, you generally score better if you don't come off sounding totally obnoxious.

Now "show me the money!"

Weezie -- Think at this point only you can best decide which way to go. Perhaps the fit between you and your present facility isn't that great. If that's the case, then move on. And try to extract as much learning as you can from your past experiences there.

Good luck!

Gomer · Dec 9, 2003

Originally posted by weezieRN
to pieWacket---- I didn't mean it as it was written or how you stated it, I meant I would like to be apart of the improvements of the department and of course i do have some ideas considering they still have the seperate labor rooms and a seperate delivery rooms, etc, i would like to be apart of trying to recruit midwives and ob doc that are women, obtaining funding for the department since we are a part of a big division of hospitals. If you read any of the local papers in our area you can see that residents of the town our hospital is in will go to a hospital 40-50 miles away to have their children, probably due to up to date(L&D rooms) accomadations women healthcare providers etc, etc. To me a manager is for that sort of thing but also staff imput should be considered since they are the ones who have to actually iniate and deal with things on the floor daily etc.

I must agree with pieWacket. When I read your first posting all I thought was; OMG another know-it-all kid, probably a BSN'er out to change nursing and still wet behind the ears. Then when you wrote "I would like to be apart (sic) of the improvements...." I thought, well maybe the kid has a chance (to be part of the solution).

But when you wrote about recruiting midwives and female ob docs I decided my first impression was correct. At your hospital do employees really have a say in who works as an MD? Does your hospital employ MD's? Managers/Directors, even most VP's (excluding the Chief of Staff) don't have a say in the medical staff of most facilities. Maybe your hospital keeps an "out-dated" L&D available to the residents of your town just for their convenience. Many hospitals are closing such departments and forcing patients to travel to larger facilities. You should keep in mind that L&D/OB are not money makers and reimbursements never equal the cost.

Please let us know how your meeting goes. I, for one, would be interested in knowing how your meeting goes.

Dayray, RN · Dec 9, 2003

I have to agree. I very much doubt you will be hired for the position you are applying in OB.

As someone who has worked in OB for 2 years now, I have learned that an attitude of willingness to learn and openness to opposing views is valuable. You sound like a very capable person and that isn't a bad thing, however an assertive and aggressive attitude, well useful in most areas of nursing is a stumbling block in OB, at least at the beginning.

In OB there is so much to learn and if you come into it thinking you know anything about it, you are going to miss out. You will also have problems with the staff as we very often have outsiders try to tell us how to do our jobs and think they know better. It will really turn your coworkers off.

If you do pursue OB, erase the phrase "I know" form your vocabulary as it does nothing to help you learn. Even if you think you know, you may not, and even if you do know that is all you will know as it will stop others from teaching you.

As for bringing in new Ob's and such, I would wait to draw an opinion on the reasons patients choose to go elsewhere until you have had time to work the area. Very often people make assumptions based on there own feelings. As a medical professional a female provider may be preferable to you but don't assume that the patients in your area feel the same way or that nicer rooms would bring them in. Also you have to consider the possibility that the hospital doesn't want L&D to grow some hospitals don't.

I expect that you will most likely see my words as unfriendly and dismiss them but I promise they are meant as constructive and not to condom you.

kellilou3 · Dec 10, 2003

Originally posted by Dayray
I expect that you will most likely see my words as unfriendly and dismiss them but I promise they are meant as constructive and not to condom you.

Although safe sex really is the best way to go.

Dayray, RN · Dec 10, 2003

Lol ack my spell checker has failed me !!!!!!!!

Condemn

now on top of it all I'm going to have the abstinence People after me for handing out condoms =P

thanks kellyilu ROFL !!!:roll

weezieRN · Dec 10, 2003

I know some of you all will take this wrong but here goes anyway. I 'm not just a new BSN'er who is out to change the world, I am a married mom of 3 girls ranging in age from 5-10 went back to school to become RN which is what I have always wanted to be since kindergarden and I am finally doing in it and feel I am pretty good at it(Still alot of learning to do). What I am stating is probably me as a consumer would look at this establishment and find fault with it and would then look elsewhere if I were planning to have a baby in the future. Sure it does the job at 1000 a year plus Gynies that not the point but some modernization would be a bonus, just a little remodeling to make even 1 or 2 L&D rooms would be a bonus. New nurse manger to the OB floor is to start tomorrow so it will be interesting to see the changes from here on out